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Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Now that we have lost the election of 2012, where our champion, a third-rate imitation of Ronald Reagan, without either his charm or his principles, who believed in absolutely nothing except being the best salesman he could be; let's pause to reflect on all the things we lost out on through his defeat.

When we lose something, a relationship or a job, the grief comes from what we thought we had and what we imagined it was, not from what it truly was. Perspective means getting a true sense of what we had and what we never had to begin with.

So let's look at what we might have had with President Mitt Romney.

We lost the chance to have universal health care, with the mandate, become a principle that every conservative was duty-bound to defend.

Oh I know. Mitt Romney was going to repeal ObamaCare. And he was. And by "repeal", I mean he would have tinkered with it a bit and turned it into RomneyCare. And for the next four to eight years, it would have been heresy to ever suggest that we opposed universal health care with a mandate. Once Romney did that, it would have turned out that we only opposed universal health care with a mandate when it was badly enacted, without regard for businesses, by a Democrat.

We lost the chance to have a Republican president deliver weapons to Syrian Jihadists. Not to mention apply more sanctions to Iran in order to force it to the negotiating table. We could have been so privileged as to have a Republican president execute these two items of Obama's agenda. Instead we're stuck with a Democrat doing it.

Of course President Mitt Romney would not have done these things out of a deep abiding hatred for America and a sympathy for terrorists. But he would have still done them anyway. He wouldn't have understood what he was doing, but his foreign policy would still have been sixty percent of Obama's foreign policy, without the conscious malice. It would have been an improvement in that regard and only in that regard.

Those of you pro-Israeli types who imagine that a President Romney would have taken the boot off Israel's neck, would have been shocked when a month after taking office, his Secretary of State would have commenced condemning Israeli "settlements" in Jerusalem. Just like it was in the days of the Bush Administration.

But, Romney would have been different, you say. He had a great rapport with Netanyahu. And Bush had a great rapport with Sharon. He had an even better one with Saudi Arabia. The same would have been true of Romney.

Still Romney would have appointed conservatives to the Supreme Court. And there you may even be right. I wouldn't place any bets on it though. Oh we probably wouldn't have gotten any Wise Latinas on his watch, but then again we might have, but I wouldn't count on too many members of the Federalist Society ending up on the bench either.

Romney would at least have been pro-business. So was George W. Bush. And how well did he deal with the problems of government overreach? It's all well and good to be pro-business, but even a former businessman who becomes a president, sees problems from the government's end, not from the standpoint of a businessman.

And, for that matter, if you doubt any of this, do look back on the Bush years and consider that Romney would have been worse in every area than Bush. It's human nature not to believe that, but it's so. And if the election had gone another way, in a few months you would have seen it for yourselves.

The 2012 election was of course a disaster. A complete and thorough disaster. But it was a disaster because Obama and his cronies won. Not because Mitt Romney lost. Mitt Romney filled a void. He stepped into a spot that we needed, became a symbol and then he failed, because he was only a man, and worse still he was a blue state politician who was light on principles and heavy on being a people person.

What we lost in this election was not a chance for better leadership, but a chance to remove a bad leader. But what we gained was an end to complicity in the actions and policies of this administration. What we gained was a chance to use this defeat to launch a movement that can actually win an election by confronting the issues.

I would have never called for people to stay away during the election. Another four years of Obama would have been too high a price to pay for that. But now that we have that four years, it helps to remember that we never had a shot at making a complete break with the policies of Barack Obama. What we were really trying to do was replace Obama with a man who would carry out many of the same policies, but without a hidden agenda or destructive urges.

What we were trying to do was elect a man who destroy America with the best of intentions, with an open heart and enough practical experience to avoid overreaching and destroying the country too quickly. And that is no bad thing, from one perspective, certainly if we have to choose between high speed destruction and medium speed destruction, it's best to take the foot off the pedal, but it's not a solution of any kind to anything. At most it might have amounted to breathing room that would have corrupted us by making us complicit in those same policies.

So here we are again, right back where we were in 2008. The establishment blew another election. The base is angry and frustrated. The country is divided. And a growing number of people reject the policies of the administration. The establishment rejected the Tea Party as a bunch of crazies, but the Tea Party is more relevant than ever.

A day before the election, I wrote, "Even if we lose this election, it will have been worthwhile to make it as close as possible, to bring out massive rallies of people who are waking up out of the daze and realizing that they don't have to take the occupation and that there are tens of millions of people out there who feel as they do.

"Mitt Romney is a symbol, a convenient shorthand for freedom of expression, enterprise and faith. Whether or not he embodies these values is a secondary concern. As Obama became a vehicle for the left to express its identity, Romney has become a vehicle for traditional Americans to express theirs. If Romney wins, then he will become a politician and if he loses, then the symbolic identity, which transcends him, will go on, because it is an expression, not of one man, but of the values of a country."

So Mitt Romney has fallen and I will waste no great amount of time either condemning him or mourning him. I have never met him and cannot speak for his character. I believe that he was genuinely motivated by public service, in the old-fashioned sense, but I also believe that, like his father, his instincts tilted to the left. Faced with a new left, his old-fashioned liberalism would have given them a foothold, while destroying him anyway.

Romney ran an effective enough campaign, but it was the campaign that he needed to run, not the one that the country needed. And now that it's over, we are back where we need to be, fighting the good fight. We have the opportunity to organize and radicalize, to bring together growing numbers of people around opposition to everything that the Democratic Party has come to stand for. That is something we could not have done under a President Romney. It is something that we can only do while in the opposition.

And equally importantly, we once again have the opportunity to mobilize and transform the party. That opportunity may be more than the answer to winning the next election. It may be the means of saving this country.

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comments:

Anonymous
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Well said. Romney is the embodiment of the GOP and its values. The majority of us however, don't benefit from low Capital Gains tax rates, we benefit from lower Earned Income rates. I was appalled to hear him wish to arm the Syrian rebels without asking "who are they, and what are there goals?" Could he have at least pretended to be angry about what happened in Benghazi? To at least get on national television when he could command an audience and demand answers?Could he have at least pretended to give a damn what is happening to our sons in Afghanistan?It seems not.And so we had a candidate that differed from the incumbent in so few ways that the outcome as you mentioned, would hardly have been noticeable.Maybe the fact that he cared so little - as evidenced by his failure to criticize - is why so few cared enough to vote.When the 'Arab Spring' began, I often thought back to Yeats "The Second Coming""Things fall apart; the center cannot hold,Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world...:And now,"The best lack all conviction, while the worstare full of passionate intensity."

Mitt would not have been the end all to be all but he would've provided us with time and a small, short, basement window to crawl out of and regroup. That's was my hope. Now, it will just take a lot longer. I thank the Romney and Ryan families for putting themselves out there.

Invest 1 hr 27 minutes in watching —undistractedly-- this inspiring and curative monologue by Bill Whittle, who used to blog as “Eject Eject Eject”, and now runs his superb stuff through the Pajamas Media borg. He put it together last night as the heavens were collapsing onto us and all around us:

An accurate portrayal of Romney... he wasn't Mr Right. He was just Mr Right Now. And that would have been OK....not great but in comparison to O it would have been an improvement. However the fact that Romney is less liberalthan O but still liberal or that he doesnt hate America and O does is irrelevant.What was relevant before the election was that he wasn't Obama and didn't actively seek the downfall of America. Now we have Lucifers proteged 4 more years and he has no reason to hold back..... another term for O is illegal. Doesn't mean he won't break the law and stay in office, just means he can't pretend he believes in the law.

America likely won't survive 4 more years of what the last 4 brought us....amplified by no concerns of accountability at the polls. The agony for formerly free America gets under wayn ernest now. Romney would have tried, ineffectually maybe, to limit the pain and suffering. Obama not only won't try he will gleefully pour on the salt and crank the wheels on the torture rack because he HATES America and thus Americans.

I think it's possible some of this criticism of Romney is over the top. There is an awful lot of speculation here, the roots of which are embedded in I have no idea WHAT soil.

But look at what he did as governor of Massachusetts. Yes, he signed the healthcare bill sent up to him by a legislature that was over 80% Moonbat Democrat. But still he worked hard to make the bill less disastrous,not because HE wanted healthcare, but because he recognized that there would be a healthcare bill whether he wanted one or not. All he could do was try to make it better. In his capacity as governeor he wielded a loose veto pen and - unless I'm mistaken - set a record for vetoeing leftist legislation. It is true Romney was left of center. This is different, at least in MY mind - from being a raging, mouth-foaming communist like Barry Bolshivek.

As for the SCOTUS appointments, let me see, now who was it that gave us Sandra Day O'Connor & Anthony Kennedy? Ah, yes... Ronaldus Magnus!

I wanted Romney to do two things - stop the worst & most permanent effects of Obamacare and I wanted him to get our spending under control. He certainly would have done both of those things.

I'm pretty sure Mitt Romney wouldn't have spent four years squirreling away his little commie pals throught the Federal bureacracy, and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be meeting Putin in some quiet corner of a pub in Moscow to make a secret deal that would make himself richer and us poorer.

Finally, simply his election would have sparked a market jump, and the unleashing of billions of dollars from businesses who refuse to expand under President "Fidel" Obama. So, excuse me if I refuse to be "cheered up" by this piece.

We got the shaft on Tuesday - BIG TIME! This country may be beyond saving at this point.

U ppl dont understand what awaits u. The worse for the country it is, the better for Obama it will be. This is politics of destruction - the worse for the Russians it was in 1917-1919, the better it was for the murderous Bolsheviks. U'v just elected your LENIN over yourselves.

Pray that you have another election. Pray that you do.

Obama's plan is simple: he wants to bankrupt America, instigate BIG war in the ME and stay out of it himself, create his private civilian army of Obamonoids, take away your guns and declare anyone who opposes him a fascist. Oh, don't forget, install the Marshal Law when food riots break out and postpone elections - indefinitely.

That's the best post-election piece I've read, and very true. You can take the view that Obama's re-election is a blessing in disguise of sorts, as it will really motivate people now to oppose the left. They say "things will get worse before they get better". We're about to have four more years of getting "worse". The gloves will be off, now, as he has nothing to lose, and no longer needs to pretend.

Just a sidenote, long web addresses can be neatly packed and made clickable using simple code < a href="web address">name, description< /a> (to make this code active, remove both whitespaces before a href and /a and insert proper web address and name as required), resulting inObama supporters celebrate "no more Israel"

In what we tell ourselves is an age of reason, we are behaving increasingly irrationally. A loss of religious belief has led the West to replace reason and truth with ideology and prejudice. The result has been a kind of mass derangement, as truth and lies, right and wrong, victim and aggressor are all turned upside down.

Ha Ha Ha...I just saw that video from Weasel Zippers. Good Lord, that first young man cannot speak for chit. Easily persuaded, much? And the last young man looked like Jim Breuer's character in Half Baked. Thanks for the link, Anonymous.

"We have the opportunity to organize and radicalize, to bring together growing numbers of people around opposition to everything that the Democratic Party has come to stand for."

Dan,

Are you serious or are you just pontificating?

I love your writing, but it is EASY to stand around the water-cooler BS'ing about REVOLUTION! It is EASY to be an Armchair General, but when it is time to call roll for the actual fighting in the streets who is gonna show up?

Who will be willing to sacrifice their "fortunes and sacred honor" to fight for this nation?

That is what it will take.

How many of your readers even OWN a gun let alone know how to use one? Capable of using it offensively???

I fervently hope and pray there is a way to save this nation without civil war, without bloodshed, but I'm really tired of empty talk of REVOLUTION! and NO ACTION. SSDD...

I will sign up TODAY to a new party or group that will gut the country club carcass of the GOP and turn it into a spec ops version of the Tea Party willing to hang it all on the line to fight for and SAVE this country & our Constitution.

We are SO FAR past the time for talking it is ridiculous. If we are not willing to risk a fist fight with bloody noses all round, we sure the heck ain't ready to foment REVOLUTION!

VA Rancher, Becoming involved in something probably won't start on an open blog. And, I think it has to start with one's self. I read your comments and I know you have valuable input. I'm not trolling for an argument or to piss anyone off. Being part of an organized effort to make a change would probably start with like-minded people that you may already know in your area.

Also, I'll throw this out for chits n' giggles even though we're all grown ups here: stay within the law at all times.

I'm not REALLY calling for us to fix bayonets and CHARGE. Not yet at least... I have a job, wife & kids, horses, three mortgages, etc... I cannot afford to step outside the law. I am just as guilty of being a Chairborn Ranger sitting in my home office reading the internet instead of DOING something too.

But we need to realize there MUST be more than mere words. ACTION and SACRIFICE (even if it is just a sacrifice of time or pride, etc) will be required to enact REAL Change.

We need to start showing up at our local GOP committee meetings and raising heck, getting involved and rewriting the rules. Or we need to start a new party (I'd like to join the Federalist party, where is it?) and actively recruit like minded folks.

BTW, if I could have these conversations with my neighbors, coworkers, and fellow Church members I would or actually am doing so, but we need NUMBERS as Tuesday so painfully taught us.

Here in the open is were we meet, discover like minds, and move out from here...

Daniel, don't be so cynical. I didn't know you could see into other people's souls, and I think you definitely sold Governor Romney very short. The fact is that 13-14 million fewer people voted Maybe it was the "Ron Paul revenge"?The fact is, that with this unqualified, incompetent usurper, any ordinary " would have been a better choiceAt least we would have a leader who loves America.

@vrajavala: I do not recollect Daniel being cynical (in proper meaning of this word) even once just for fun, kicks or any other reason. I suspect that honest analysis of this text may go to sub-atomic level and still not find a shred of cynicism. Yes, bitter truth hurts. But that's another story.

Daniel, here is what I lost in this election. I lost the illusion that our election process is fair, or just, or anything other than corrupt and fraudulent. I lost the hope that we could dig ourselves out of this mess through elections and campaigning. I lost the idea that honesty is something to value and try to instill into young minds. I lost any hope of being able to speak honestly in my community, because which idiot still wants to believe that a wholehearted discussion with a group of con-men will be of any benefit? We exist among jackals, liars, and thieves. The dream of rising among your peers through honest hard work is gone.

America was a dream. Now I woke up. Good luck with the next election cycle. I won't bother pretending any more.

The first thing that needs to happen is Boehner, McConnell, and Prebus needed to be told to step down from their leadership positions. If they don't do so voluntarily, they need to be forced. The old ways of Republicans have got to change if we are going to salvage the concept of a two party system.

The country has clearly staked it's claim to begin a Center/Left country. Bush, Romney, McCain were never Conservatives, they were Republicans. Every pundit out there will be claiming "Oh Republicans are so extreme, that's why they lost." Well then go tell that to Scott Brown who was barely a RINO let alone a far right Conservative. A guy who voted only 52% with the Republican Party was ousted by a Left-wing radical. A Woman who claimed to be the "intellectual foundation of the OKKKcupy movement." So much for less Conservative Republicans.

Schools and the media have been over run by Progressives, extreme Progressives, for decades now. The indoctrination of far left ideology starts in Kindergarten and continues through grad school. And then all they have to do is turn on the News, open a News Paper, or log onto any Media website and get a Progressive refresher course.

When you objectively dissect the issues, most people can clearly see that Progressive/Liberalism is nothing short of crazy. But Republicans unfortunately are not all that Conservative. They first of all need to just plain shut up about abortion. How do you preach small government, less government involvement in people's lives, and then take the Republican stance on abortion??? Yeah yeah vulnerable fetus's, I know but, mind your own business or advocate for State not Federal oversight. Abortion is a touchy subject and it distracts from things that will are currently ACTUALLY important.

Jeb Bush would usher in the end of the Republican as a Conservative party. We need actual Conservatives not moderates. Moderates in this election actually did worse than some of the more Conservative Candidates.

Setting aside of course what a goddamn clown circus the GOP primaries were. If you want viable candidates then HAVE viable candidates. Not reality show rejects, glint eyed zealots, egomaniac gasbags and fools. The GOP could not have scraped up a worse bunch of losers if they actively sought them out. Romney got the lead because he was the only person besides Huntsman who wouldn't embarrass you at dinner by doing something painfully redneck retarded.

I agree that Romney was not the conservative savior and he was my choice of "anybody but Obama." I'm in the minority in my house, all three daughters, well educated, and PhD husband are Obama supporters, as well as my Doctor and Dentist. I can only retaliate when they start pounding me by saying, "Wait until the Drone Master gets finished. You will have some serious buyer's remorse, and I will be there cheering." Hateful, yes it is, but Liberals have turned hateful and now I want revenge.

Re: Revolution. I have a gun, know how to shoot it, but am not a revolutionist. I'm all for breaking the country up into smaller countries who work together b/c of financial gain.

Andrew Jackson held the USA together as did Lincoln (much smaller USA back then) Barry Obama does not have the skills to hold the USA together. Hope we break apart while we can.

Daniel, life is not black and white, conservatism is not all good and liberalism is not all bad. There is a lot of wisdom in Chinese philosophy of Ying/Yang -- the truth is often in the middle and it is grey. Romney was that grey in the middle. Whether in reality he would have been an ideal grey, no one knows and no one will ever know. The point is that what we got is for sure much worse for America, for Israel and for the Jews. So don't try to find excuses to feel better. Your previous article was much more on point -- get mad in order to win the next one.

Universal suffrage is an extremely leveling device. We see the result. As Tocqueville observed, it is not only the most detestable element of democratic government, but even worse, a powerful revolutionary instrument. It makes no sense for an individual to compete in that marketplace with ideas of principled liberty--which are antithetical to the revolution--so even believers don't.

When something is left unspoken it is left undefined, and when it is undefined it is undefended. Then we think we need better politicians when in fact we have seen the limits of what can be had in Reagan, whose true legacy is inarguably exactly what we have now.

What, in fact, can be done? No one knows. But no one can find an answer before they have discovered the right questions. The heirs of liberty suddenly seem to be looking at the right questions.

In a way, a modern state can be compared to a large plane, or to a large ship, with all the applicable related cabin salon sensors controls compass course speed altimeter pressure fuel weight pilots passengers cargo etc associations.

The discussions on important issues in the society come and go, but rarely important issues both presented clearly and remain in public eye for too long - but IMHO it is very important to keep many of them in the public eye at all times, constantly updated, ideally all in one place.

The plane or ship are both apolitical - i.e. it is not really important who's at the helm, from the perspective that controls and dashboard and physics remain the same regardless.

But the way of handling controls and plotting course and well being of passengers and structural integrity and defenses and final destination are very political indeed (prosperity and crash outcomes come to mind).

I wonder if it would be possible to create a web site or portal, where the most important and critical parameters of the modern state-society-country (such as the U.S.A.) would be presented in a clear and simple form, maybe similar to automobile speed and oil gauges, or to dashboard of plane or ship, with automated data feeds from appropriate data sources, flashing ALERT-DANGER if some parameters approach dangerous or critical values etc.

I believe if it is possible for plane, or ship, or power plant (otherwise they would not fly, or sail, or produce energy) - then it must be possible for a modern state too, to keep citizens informed and alert, "on the same page" on most critical and important issues etc.

To illustrate what I mean, there is one very informative and impressive and important national website - US Debt Clock - it presents realtime US debt situation, where for example an average US citizen can learn, that his or her personal debt equals $51,607 - on top of other debts, or if he or she was just born.

Actually, I see here two issues:

1 - building such a universal national dashboard, assuming it is possible (US Debt Clock presents a very good example)2 - teaching people reason and logic so they can actually use it, rather than staring at it blankly and going back to sleep (passengers), or attempting maneuvers outside sane envelopes, or plotting suicidal course (crew)

Secession requires a driving issue, some touchstone that would convince a regional majority to secede, and winning a civil war against all military forces that the federal authorities can bring to bear.

Mitt Romney was not my choice, however, I voted for him against Obama.

This country is in serious financial trouble. I believed that Romney would be of immense help in that area. Nothing else at this time really matters. If this country is not solid fiscally, we will have nothing.

Who knows how bad it will get in 4 more years?And who is the next repub candidate going to be?And since the dems got away with election fraudin 2008 and 2012, they will get away with it next time too.And lastly, can the media be any more corrupt?The answer to that is "no".

We needed to at least attend to financial matters and Romney would have done that for us.

Secession requires a driving issue, some touchstone that would convince a regional majority to secede, and winning a civil war against all military forces that the federal authorities can bring to bear.

It is far from certain that there would be a civil war, and as has been said many times before (including on this blog a few days ago under "Troops in the Street"), the current U.S. military is hardly in Obama's camp. When the U.S.S.R fell apart, there was no general civil war.

just found this via instaoundit.was giving up in despair but realize from dans comments on romney that their is a silver lining. the princples of tea party will be better known by contrast to obama policies and as the pain begins the uninvolved will be looking for alterntives. nw is the time to spread the word not give up.

I've been thinking about it for two days now, and I'm actually glad Obama got re-elected. Let me explain why.

The financial collapse would have happened anyway, even if Romney were elected. Romney's election would have simply slowed it; made it more gradual. That way, it would have come as less of a shock when it happened. But Romney would not have been able to take the measures required to prevent the coming collapse. I doubt anyone can at this point. It's inevitable.

With Obama re-elected, the time to collapse will accelerate, and the crash will be harder. This will enable us to both get it over with, pick up the pieces, and move on more quickly as well as illustrate much more graphically how socialist policies will always eventually end.

Greece is in dire straits with riots at 170% debt to GDP ratio. They have the ability right now to be bailed out by Germany and other EU member nations. The CBO estimates the US debt to GDP ratio will be 180% by 2035. With Obama in office, and depending on what he does in the next four years, I can easily see this hitting its breaking point years earlier than that. Nobody will have the ability to provide bailouts for the United States of America.

For this reason, I will now support Obama's agenda 100%. I will support every tax hike he proposes. I will oppose any spending cut Republicans want. I will support every new spending program and entitlement Obama and the Democrat party wants. I will support every single restriction on our rights. Let's show America what the liberal agenda really means, and how it will really affect them.

I say let's get it over with. Let's stop staring at the horizon, watching it approach, and worrying about how bad it's going to be. Let's run out to meet it on our terms, attack it, and get back to our lives. In the process we can put the lie that is socialism/liberalism in the ground once and for all.

which way the US military would move would depend on the starting point. Would the Civil War have gone differently without the shelling of Fort Sumter?

It's one thing to anticipate that the military might disobey illegal orders. It is another to anticipate that they would support the breakup of the Republic or align themselves with those doing the breaking without extreme provocation.

Some would, but it would come down to the moral high ground.

The key ingredients of such a civil war would be geography and military support.

"But I am being realistic about the limits of what that victory would have meant."

No. You are projecting and guessing and, as another poster has said, trying to make yourself feel better.

Exactly what sort of perfect candidate are you expecting to arise out of the morass we call humankind? Romney is/was the here-and-now. He fought well and had much to offer. He had to tussle both with Obama and the media, meaning there was no room for error on his part and that the slightest strategic flaw could (and did) take him down. He was a fine candidate on many counts and, sadly, he lost and the country lost along with him.

Across the Conservative punditsphere, the smartest thinkers have decided to go nuts over this loss, primarily because smart men can't tolerate losing. A prime example is brilliant Bill Whittle. His hour and a half YouTube rant mentioned above, in which he suggests we all migrate with him to an alternate reality,is pure mishugas.

How about taking a few weeks and maybe a day at the beach to more fully digest what has happened and to see what the emerging trends are before rushing to extreme formulations and solutions?

I typically agree with your perspective. That said, I do not agree with your assessment of Mr. Romney.

He had the best shot at defeating BHO of those running on the GOP side of the fence. I do agree that most of the GOP representatives are neo-cons and not true conservatives. Sort of Dem-light.

Romney was the best hope we had to piece back part of the Constitution that has been shredded by Obama. And, I think that if he had won, we would see a more conservative bench at SCOTUS, too. Under BHO we will not.

I'm still perplexed with the loss when I list all of Obama's dirty laundry. At least 50% of the voting people apparently like what little he is doing to advance this country.

"VA Rancher, we're talking about political organizing to reach the kind of people who don't vote, not an armed rebellion."

Dan,

Understood.

That said I think you are still off target. I doubt you can find enough who do not vote now, to counter act the Obama Zombies who DID VOTE (they voted for "Free Stuff"& Obama).

We need to CHANGE Peoples Minds, to Educate.

I believe Andrew Breitbart is credited with saying something like, "What we are selling is Freedom, if we can't sell that we're in the wrong business" (I did not go look it up, might b slightly off...).

Adam, when I speak secession, I don't imagine a situation of anarchy with troops in the street. This country has become too big to manage from D.C. -- too many special interest groups, too much concentration of money/power in specific areas of the country. I imagine a peaceful, as you say, "dipolmatic" break-up. It's a pipe dream, but truly no one is Congress/White House has the spine or love of country or wisdom to hold us together. What does California have in common with N.C. as far as demographics and idealogy go? As America declines (which is were we are headed), then at some point a dipolmatic breakup would be feasible, simply b/c nobody really cares anymore.

Howie Carr WRKO Boston, friend of Mitt Romney email:the aftermath of defeat: Howie writes "When I was a kid, I used to watch "McHale's Navy" on TV. Remember Tim Conway -- Ensign Parker? He had a saying that I've never forgotten."Cheaters never prosper."Even at the age of 10 or 11, I didn't buy it. There was altogether too much evidence to the contrary, starting with the president, LBJ. And since then, the evidence that cheaters do prosper has only continued to pile up... and up... and up.Cheaters never prosper? Tell it to Bill Clinton. And just this year, to the fake Indian, Granny Warren. She never prospered until she started cheating.But what happened yesterday was so much more than Elizabeth Warren. Barack Obama didn't deserve to be reelected, and please, don't tell me to take solace in the fact that he only got 50 percent of the vote, or that 13 million fewer people voted yesterday than in 2008.All his life, Mitt Romney has tried to do the right thing, he's given millions to charity, he's been the bishop of his church, he's tithed, he worked for nothing as governor of Massachusetts. He's led an exemplary life, words I don't use very often.On the other hand you have the community organizer, who's always skated along unchallenged, relying on affirmative action to propel him to the next level. John Sununu Sr. is right about him -- he is lazy. Not to mention ignorant. Nothing was ever expected of him, and he delivered... nothing.And now he's been reelected, along with his senile vice president, Joe Biden, a plagiarist like Granny Warren.Then there's Johnny "Pockets" Tierney. I had dinner last week with an old-line Boston pol, a former statewide officeholder, and he told me, "If Tierney can get reelected, it means nothing I know about politics applies anymore."Well, guess what?My congressman in Florida, Allen West, is black, a war hero, a retired colonel, smart as hell. After a single term in the House, he was defeated by a punk who at the age of 19 was arrested by the Miami Beach cops for public drunkenness, and then took a few swings at the police. At the same time this Murphy was legless on North Collins Ave, West was preparing his troops to fight in Afghanistan. But George Soros gave Murphy millions upon millions, just to destroy West, to end his political career just as it was beginning.Now the MSNBC liberals are going to lecture us that Republicans have to be a kinder, gentler party. More handouts, more illegals, fewer cops.... It's not going to work. To paraphrase Harry Truman, "If you give people a choice between a Democrat and a Democrat, they'll pick the Democrat every time."I fear that what we need to turn this country around is what we're going to get, probably sooner rather than later -- an economic collapse. As Dr. Johnson said, Nothing concentrates one's mind like being hanged in two weeks, or being in a soup line, with hyperinflation and 50 percent unemployment and God only knows what other disasters await us courtesy of Obama and the Democrats.I'm glad it's slate gray outside today. Bring on the nor'easter. It'd be a shame to waste a nice day on the black mood I'm in.

"Now the MSNBC liberals are going to lecture us that Republicans have to be a kinder, gentler party. More handouts, more illegals, fewer cops.... It's not going to work. To paraphrase Harry Truman, "If you give people a choice between a Democrat and a Democrat, they'll pick the Democrat every time."

The Islamic solution to your problem would be a militia. Shia militias are quite effective in protecting Shia interests, helping the families of the persecuted, and creating "state within the state". You can think of an American Defence League, that will agree to protect some core non-negotiable american values, like free speech, gun ownership, sovereignty from International Courts/UN/EU/ and foreign interference, private property etc. even if the government manages to outlaw some of them them. This means non-violent resistance, refusal to follow such laws, Civil Disobedience Gandhi style, demographic concentration into conservative areas, material help to the families of those persecuted by the state, etc. Imagine such a group protesting the arrest of the "Innocence of Muslims" filmmaker, calling it a political arrest, helping his family, helping anyone who was fired for insulting Islam, etc.

Romney was another "pro-business," open-border's RINO. He pandered to illegal invading Mexicans. Although he did not grovel at their feet with promises of amnesty like our traitor in chief did, he did not promote the rule of law and scoff at rewarding those who entered this country in violation of our immigration laws, (as well as sovereignty) with amnesty.

I guess such a position is now deemed “extremist” in our political nomenclature. What else would you expect when this country allows millions of third-world, non-White legal and legal “immigrants” to flood this country every year. Eventually, the demographics begin to change. I do not believe this was by accident. To quote an infamous “Reverend” “the chickens are coming home to roost.”

Nonetheless, the substantial majority of Americans believe in that position and would have responded favorably. Of course, Romney would have to have the wherewithal to withstand the attacks from the La Razas that he is “xenophobic, mean-spirited, and a nativist.”

Perhaps with the reelection of obama, the crash will come sooner rather than later. But it will come. Keep an eye on Greece, because the potential for the same result is possible in this country, especially when other people's money runs out to distribute to the parasite class and illegal aliens.

Fabulous article, but the hope is gone, at least in my case, that you can ever reverse the consequences of this election, which bluntly is America's decline. Someone wrote something to the effect that Obama was America's first third world President. Well, in the case of this election, we need to recognize that we have now become the United States of Multiculturalism. What this means is that what could be called traditional American values that served to integrate and unite our society no longer have any meaning, or value, to the bulk of our potential voters.In multicultural America the applied values are what's-in-it-for-me, and tribal/clan/economic status identifcation and paybacks/payouts. Empowerment,(such as gay marriages), and real or perceived grievances, and "fairness" ("you did not build that", so give me my share) rule the day. The media has dumbed down the public, and only cares about indocrinating them in liberalism and their being the ultimate consumers, for media revenue benefit,of the crap that their advertisers sell, not their education as citizenry or as Americans. Over the next four years Daniel I see you as one of the ancient prophets of Israel railing against the sins of the people and the administration. The only problem is, they will not give up worshipping the fatted calf of handouts and entitlements, and as the Temple was lost, so too will this country.

Daniel, I think your comments about what Romney, if elected would have done about Israel,as against Obama, needed a bit more consideration. There is a real difference between lip service on the peace process, (Bush, Romney) and a true believer-pusher, with a clear Pro-Palestinian agenda (Obama). Romney did note that the Palestinians were not seeking peace before he had to tone it down, unlike the Rev. Wright, Rashid Khalidi acolyte that currently sits in the White House. And as was noted from Obama's apology speech in Cairo, the Jews, in Obama's estimate were in Israel as a sop to the Holocaust, not because of their deep ties and history in the land, and their right to self-determination. There is no question that it will be very bad for Israel having the same President in office for the next four years that demanded Israel return to "Auschwitz borders" as a pre-condition to peace negotiations. One hopes that Obama apologists Ed Koch and Alan Dershowitz will be on speed dial to their great leader when the next anti-Israel, Iranian favorable, major pro-Palestinian demand shoe drops.

I have grown very weary of all this opposition. I have been accused of hating the poor and women, have been called a bitter clinger, teabagger, homophobe, flat-earther, birther, Jesus Freak, racist and a stupid tw@t by television and radio pundits. And then close to half of this nation (excluding the fraudulent votes) voted for the person who hates them the most to run their country. The worst president in history could not be defeated by the Republican Party. Who the hell is America? I'm surely the minority now. My great values did nothing to sway the vote. Romney was not the answer to our prayers for this nation but he was NOT the nuclear bomb we voted in either. I can only find like-minded people and huddle against the coming storm. I have no idea who I would "fight" to get the freedoms of the Constitution returned in full when my fellow countryman really doesn't seem to want them anymore.

My dear friends, please keep in mind that "They say that war is all glory, but it is all hell." The high spirits at the outset of the Civil War or WWI soon dissipated, and the horror stretches out to this day. Think very carefully before advocating collapse, chaos or anarchy. Americans have no idea what that brings in its wake. But I understand that it may be a fate that none of us can avoid.

"Exactly what sort of perfect candidate are you expecting to arise out of the morass we call humankind?"

Jenna- how about that can't be labelled a flip-flopper, and the inspiration for Obamacare right out of the gate. A true Conservative that isn't dumb enough to say something stupid about rape and abortion that is nothing more than fodder for the left.

Adam Greenfield said...A true Conservative that isn't dumb enough to say something stupid about rape and abortion that is nothing more than fodder for the left.

Ugh. Mourdock and Akin.... A picture of two people with less sense than Gd gave a goose. They both took the money, sweat and toil of everyone who contributed to their campaigns and just threw it to the wolves because they just couldn't abide.

The sheer amount of monetary support means they both had more than adequate handlers to do the messaging and keep them out of those types of scenarios. But no. They are feeling so lofty and untouchable that they had to open their mouths.

I'm still smoked by the sheer gall and how it comes to these types of Walking Disasters get to where they are. That's the kind of feckless engineering that needs to stop.

What we really lost this election:Greetings from the Peoples Democratic Republic of California. The voters of the US in general, and California specifically voted for was bigger government, more spending, more taxes on the productive class, more government intrusion into our lives, and loss of individual freedoms. We are now going to become collectivist style societies. Cradle to grave government support and oversight. This means guaranteed poverty, guaranteed dependence, and political correctness. We will now become a sanctuary, with no such thing as an illegal. We will all be the same. Of course, the ruling elites will be more equal, as will be their pet supporters. We will now become a one party system. Of course, this will not happen overnight, but it will probably happen sooner than expected. Expect everything to have a monitoring and regulating body. We cannot have hate speech that offends certain groups (Jews and Christians excepted). We cannot have terror (unless you belong to the chosen group, but then that is not terror). I would like to go on, but it is too depressing. I really don't care to be so gloom and doom, but honestly, look at who the electorate put into office. Unless you have lots of bucks, you can't just walk into places like Singapore or Switzerland. But since neither of them have nuclear capabilities, they will cave to the pressures put on them to expel dissidents for re-education. Is this how people felt after Adolf took over, or when the Soviets "liberated" places like Latvia or Hungary?

I watched a few minutes of the Dennis Miller segment on O'Reilly via an internet feed last night. Miller's comments were depressed and resigned, that is, he accepted that this is the new US - 'hands up and not hands down' - he didn't like it, he hadn't known it until this election (which I guess means he sees it as confirmation of what might have been a fluke in 2008). He said that he was not a cheater, would accept the new reality and pay his taxes. After all, he has 'a great life.'

Miller may not be as intellectual as many of those posting here, but his instincts usually seem very true. I think he is predicting how most conservatives will react. After all, the majority of conservatives are relatively well-off. They love the country and were raised with imbued concepts of civics and civility. We saw this also in Romney's campaign, and I think we also saw an attitude which said 'we would like to win but it's not the end of the world if we don't.' I really don't think you saw that attitude from Ronald Reagan in 1980, and I'm not one that thinks that Reagan was perfect, though he was the first antidote to the sort of depressed, socialized America that Carter also symbolized. Now I think we can see Reagan not as the harbinger of a free, capitalistic and conservative American future but as the last President to fend off, for a while, the impending reality that Miller described well.

I don't see a civil war coming, though there will be plenty of verbal violence and increasing of race tensions. Also, black on white violence is sure to increase.

I don't see secession, except symbolic. Though if Texas would secede and attempt to return to the state of affairs in 1845, before succumbing to American annexation, that would be, well, cool.

I see a long siege, a slow decline, increasing marginalization of whites and Jews, gradual spurts of Aliyah from the latter, and bigger and bigger numbers of people seeking new lives in places like Australia and New Zealand.

... when the U.S. election started heating up, I asked myself, what will I do if Obama wins a second term? "Nothing good could come from that," I thought. I mean, sure, there are the quasi-jokes going around pro-Aliyah circles today that "maybe now American Jews will see the light and make Aliyah." And there are those who are saying that, "well, this is what G-d wanted to happen, so it happened, and is therefore – by definition – good." And that’s true, but that’s a tough pill to swallow for a lot of folks who live day-to-day here on Earth, rather than up in the clouds.

Those two "positives" are simply not enough for most people. Most people want to see some REAL positives – rational positives that will impact them NOW in a happy way. Most people just want to feel good. In fact, that’s probably why Obama was reelected. When he speaks, he makes people feel good. Well, not "good," rather "gooooooood." That’s the most special thing about this newly reelected U.S. president. He has an undeniable way of speaking in such a way that people just feel "gooooooood."

But we Jews know that life is not about feeling "gooooooood." It’s about being good. It’s about doing good. It’s about the Torah instructing us to behave a certain way, and following through on those instructions. In short, it’s about the "let there be light" kind of good, not the shallow "finger-lickin’ good" of KFC or the "good to the last drop" of Maxwell House coffee.

Averagemelon said... I can only find like-minded people and huddle against the coming storm. I have no idea who I would "fight" to get the freedoms of the Constitution returned in full when my fellow countryman really doesn't seem to want them anymore.

Well, take heart. There's things the average melon on the street can do.

A few things that I've been doing for at least since 2007 is stop contributing to nationwide nonprofits. They are so multi-tiered it's disgusting. They pay bonuses to regional managers based upon fundraising. They share donations with other left-wing non-profits without your consent. Those other non-profits may be abortion advocates. Those that you withhold donations from may not feel it right away or they may never feel the loss but it doesn't matter. Your money can be used to support local businesses that support you.

As every non profit charity I know of is left wing, I'm very careful about how I donate my time and resources, locally. It really depends and I absolutely have to feel a sense of good amongst those that I would be spending time with. I have personally experienced outright stupid behavior on the part of leadership in two local nonprofits that donors would be incensed about if they knew. Just the utter gall of those perpetually angry psych graduates and their contempt behind closed doors of donors and supposed beneficiaries is very sad, to me.

Just fine-tune your awareness of what surrounds you, don't broadcast your position, watch your ratio of spending to expenditures, believe in self-reliance and personal responsibility, smile, stay respectful, mind the law, prepare a "go-bag" to sustain yourself in any emergency (this is something that should lose the stigma of "crazy"). If you are active in local disaster relief (and, I'm not talking about any nationwide nonprofit disaster relief organizations. Most cities/counties look for civilian volunteers as part of their team), then you are familiar with this.

Culture change requires consistent support no matter how you choose to participate.

It won't help to move away from the US. The same ideologues who have taken over America are in the process of taking over other countries. They will follow you wherever you go in just a few short years.

The Left movement is international. They cannot be pushed back by isolated resistance in individual countries and regions. They have to be fought by a united front.

Look at the support that Obama enjoys outside the US. He experiences support from the right of politics from foreign countries almost as much as from the left. This is because the media in those countries portray the American conservatives as being particularly extreme, uneducated and incompetent, even compared with their domestic right. Leaders like Cameron, in the UK, are flattered to count Obama as a friend, and to be attributed "moderate" status compared to their US counterparts.

No, any successful rejuvenated movement from the right must be internationally funded and co-ordinated. Otherwise it will be isolated and defeated.

Life is not about "feeling good". It is about "being good" and "doing good". ~Go'el (Glenn) Jasper

Good luck explaining that to all sorts of moochers leeches parasites perverts etc. They came this far just being anti-normal and pro-abnormal. Having redefined on the way many word meanings and the normality itself. Having (almost) redefined their host country to suit their views and needs. The real question is, why normal people tend to surrender peacefully, as if cause-effect reasoning is alien to them, or as if they do not value their own life.

Decker: The souls you describe exude so much character, which helps many of them face life head-on and power through challenges. The United States is facing myriad existential crises today, from debilitating debt and moral decadence to external threats such as Islam and a rising China. Do you worry that we no longer have the individual and collective character to turn the country around?

Savage: No, I don't worry at all. The very same situation was mimicked in the 1930s. As Hitler was rearming and going to war with the world -- to subjugate the world to Nazism -- he said that the Americans could never fight the German youth; never fight the German soldier. He said the Americans were too busy eating hot dogs, going to dances and watching ball games. Does that sound familiar? Well, guess what happened. As Patton said to his men -- and I don't mean patent leather of the type of generals we have today -- but Gen. George S. Patton of World War II fame, he gave a famous speech in which he said, "Boys, many of you fear that you won't know what to do when you are in combat. Well, let me tell you something. When you see your friend's guts spilling out of his body, you'll know what to do."

Adam Greenfield said: "Jenna- how about that can't be labelled a flip-flopper, and the inspiration for Obamacare right out of the gate. A true Conservative that isn't dumb enough to say something stupid about rape and abortion that is nothing more than fodder for the left."

We're talking here about the presidential election, not the Senatorial candidates who made indefensible statements about abortion. So a "True Conservative" is incapable of making stupid statements, you say? Wow, you certainly do have your standards. Didn't like Romney's record, you say? Didn't buy his broad and uplifting Conservative message during the campaign? Fine. Sit home and help Obama get elected like apparently so many others did. Gingrich? Santorum? Bachmann? Paul? Who? Any one of them would have been media mincemeat for a gullible and dependent electorate.

I do not believe the Federal government can be fixed from within. Romney was a best case scenario. Even if, by some miracle, a true conservative coalition could be established in every branch of the Federal government we would still live at the mercy of said governments benevolence. The fix must be external.

It is long past time for the states, via article V of the constitution, to assert themselves and check the power of the Federal government.

The 'horizontal' balance of power within the Federal government is not adequate to protect us from said government. An additional 'vertical' balance of power between Federal and state governments is needed.

A coalition of states is the American Revolutionary model, is provided for in the constitution, and is long overdue.

Part 1:When societal matter around begins to crumble, I guess good particle physicists might be willing to share some ideas. Natural Law, truth and falsehood, good and evil, right and wrong, meaningful and meaningless, cause-effect reasoning, logic and all that. I suspect there may be more to it than meets the eye, or other sensors for that matter.

One can't help but notice, that most discussions revolve around issues (WHAT, HOW), without going deeper (WHY) sufficiently and consistently. Not to mention that all participants at some point obtained their knowledge views ideas from somewhere (family education culture media entertainment workplace friends neighbors books). And they keep obtaining them, while the quality of the most sources keeps deteriorating, changing from badly polluted and poisoned to even worse polluted and poisoned.

Good news: real power comes from sane normal civilized people. They make the country tick, and they can do whatever is required, ideally and preferably without resorting to weapons.

Bad news: sane normal civilized people are far too polite delicate gentle withdrawn uninvolved peaceful non-militant non-aggressive marginalized disorganized frightened to enforce sanity and normality (assuming sanity and normality can be enforced), or in some ways separating from the insane deranged part of the country before it is too late.

Part 2:Speaking of society, it is hardly a stretch to assume that range and derangement, normal and abnormal etc can only be properly derived extracted understood in light of the Natural Law. In recent history, Founders were uniquely qualified particle physicists of their time (and well beyond). It is about time sane people heard from equally or comparably qualified folks of present time. They must be around somewhere.

Matthew May • Peace and Quiet for President • Nov 8, 2010This past September [2010], largely ignored amid the tumult of the election season [2010], Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana quietly delivered an address at Hillsdale College. This address was not shown live on the cable nets, although it should have been. It was not reprinted in every newspaper throughout the country, although it should have been. Nor will it be sent to every student in America, although it should be.

Mike Pence: ...America is not a dog, and does not require a "because-I-said-so" jurisprudence; or legislators who knit laws of such insulting complexity that they are heavier than chains; or a president who acts like, speaks like, and is received as a king. The president is not our teacher, our tutor, our guide or ruler. He does not command us; we command him. We serve neither him nor his vision. It is not his job or his prerogative to redefine custom, law, and beliefs; to appropriate industries; to seize the country, as it were, by the shoulders or by the throat so as to impose by force of theatrical charisma his justice upon 300 million others. It is neither his job nor his prerogative to shift the power of decision away from them, and to him and the acolytes of his choosing.

Part 3:Mike Pence: ...Many great generations are gone, but by the character and memory of their existence they forbid us to despair of the republic. I see them crossing the prairies in the sun and wind. I see their faces looking out from steel mills and coal mines, and immigrant ships crawling into the harbors at dawn. I see them at war, at work and at peace. I see them, long departed, looking into the camera, with hopeful and sad eyes. And I see them embracing their children, who became us. They are our family and our blood, and we cannot desert them. In spirit, all of them come down to all of us, in a connection that, out of love, we cannot betray.

They are silent now and forever, but from the eternal silence of every patriot grave there is yet an echo that says, "It is not too late; keep faith with us, keep faith with God, and do not, do not ever despair of the republic."